This Is My Kenya: Safaricom 2016 Calendar

This year’s Capture Kenya Challenge saw us embark on a journey to change perceptions. Every now and then we get to hear of stories about us being told by other people. Stories that only reveal us in bad light. There is is this general warped view of our country by foreigners that only depicts us as being riddled by poverty, war and general turmoil. But you know what? The only reason these stories are being told is not just because the people telling them are myopic, but because we are also not telling our stories properly.

If you do not like what is being said, change the conversation. #ThisIsMyKenya

Whereas Kenya, like any other country, faces her own share of challenges, those challenges are not what defines us. We have both the good and the bad. So this year, Safaricom Kenya took matters into it’s own hands and sort to paint a positive image of our country. There are lots of hidden treasures in plain sight everywhere. We were sent to find them, to unearth them and flaunt them to the world. We were to sent out to tell the story of This Is My Kenya.

This year, we did things a little differently from the last two Capture Kenya challenges. This year, they introduced protégés to tag along and learn from the pro photographers. Each the teams that were selected to peel back the mask of negativity misrepresenting our country were composed of a professional photographer, a protégé, a blogger and a producer.

We said our kwaheris to each other on the 11th of September 2015 and went out on our separate adventures. Along the way, I told my version of This Is My Kenya in words. The photographers did the same through their lenses; changing perceptions by the click of their cameras and with every shutter, with every click, they cleared the dense, black smoke that clouds people’s judgement.

The essence of this project was to drive home one point; that a narrow focus tells a different story than a story told from a wider perspective. The images from This Is My Kenya expeditions were compiled into the Safaricom Coffee Table Book as well as the Safaricom 2016 calendar.